In Broadcast - NABSHOW 2015 - 56

www.inbroadcast.com | NAB SHOW 11-16 April 2015 | InShow Guide

Fifteen Years + Major Media and
Broadcast Projects = Another Trip
to NAB Show for Emmy AwardWinning FileCatalyst
FileCatalyst has come a long way in its 15 years, and continues to ﬁll the market's void...

5 years ago the top movie at the box
ofﬁce was Gladiator, the top song
was Breathe by Faith Hill, and the TV
show everyone was watching was CSI.
Social media and smartphones were
still years away. Nowadays, the box
ofﬁce is ruled by a book turned movie,
a country musician turned pop star,
and folks are streaming shows about
zombies, physicists, and politicians
through their devices.
It was in 2000 that two Canadian
federal government employees, Chris
Bailey and John Tkaczewski, decided
to leave their positions and focus
on creating a company dedicated to
ﬁle transfer. From this, Unlimi-Tech
Software, Inc. was created.
At the time Unlimi-Tech, the
company responsible for FileCatalyst,
was founded, ﬁles weren't particularly
large. In 2000, the average movie
was about 4 GB, and footage was
transferred from location to location
by courier, a time consuming and
costly process. Couriers could run into
bad weather, trafﬁc delays, or various
other situations with the potential to
delay delivery, which increased costs.
As time went on, ﬁle sizes continued
to grow with the introduction of high
deﬁnition (HD) and ﬁles expanded up
to 15 GB.
Again, couriers were proving costly
and FTP technology was proving
unreliable. It wasn't uncommon to
have transfers interrupted, take hours
or days, or fail completely. As ﬁle sizes
continue to increase to an estimated
100 GB or larger with the introduction
of 4K, 8K, and more, a reliable, cost
effective method is more in demand
than ever before, and FileCatalyst is
ready to ﬁll the void.

As average ﬁle sizes continue
to grow, FileCatalyst provides a
reliable and cost-effective solution

A Look Back
Originally, UnlimiTech focused on FTP
as there was no need
for
acceleration,
particularly
when
you consider small
ﬁle sizes and "high
speed"
bandwidth
costs were expensive.
It wasn't until 2004
and early 2005 that
ﬁles expanded beyond
standard
deﬁnition
to HD, and ﬁlming
transitioned from ﬁlm
to digital. Also during
this period, bandwidth
costs
decreased,
meaning people were
interested in sending
ﬁles from one location
to another using the
Internet. The challenge
then was a lack of
During the 66th Annual Technology and Engineering
Emmy Awards, FileCatalyst won an Emmy Award
tools to effectively
conduct these transfers, which is when
For the Winter Olympics, NBC Sports
FileCatalyst was launched.
Group required a solution able to
By 2006, media and broadcast transfer large, dynamic ﬁle sets,
footage shot abroad had to be sent sending up to 100 videos at a time.
back to Hollywood studios daily for FileCatalyst was able to accomplish
review and various tasks. At this these objectives, allowing NBC
time, Sample Digital ﬁrst integrated Sports Group to break new ground in
FileCatalyst technology into its live sports production, by enabling
Web-based Digital Dailies solution, successful handling of dynamically
which allowed ﬁlm and production changing MXF ﬁles, as well as high
clients, including the hit television concurrency.
show Lost, to transfer daily footage
Similar
deployments
were
back to studios, via the Internet. This implemented for the Kentucky Derby,
marked one of the ﬁrst media and the US Open for tennis, and Super
broadcasting companies to adopt Bowl XLIX. FileCatalyst solutions were
FileCatalyst solutions.
also implemented by leading European
broadcasters during the 2014 FIFA
Keeping with the Times
World Cup in Brazil, and have been
The adoption of FileCatalyst has used extensively by broadcasters
grown exponentially since Sample covering Formula One racing.
Digital. Recently, FileCatalyst has
worked with a number of media and Where Things are Today
broadcast giants, including NBC Sports
With projects such as these under
Group for the Sochi Winter Olympic its belt, it's no surprise the company
Games, the Kentucky Derby, and Super recently won an Emmy Award.
Bowl XLIX, to transfer live footage for During the 66th Annual Technology
editing.
and Engineering Emmy Awards,

FileCatalyst won in the Secure
Accelerated File Transfer Over IP
including Internet category.
When speaking with the FileCatalyst
team, Unlimi-Tech Software marvels
at the impact of technology in media
and broadcasting. "We used to
serve a niche market," says UnlimiTech Software CEO and Co-Founder
Chris Bailey, "but now, companies
throughout the media and broadcast
industry are in search of technology
solutions to improve efﬁciency, reduce
costs, and ensure reliability, all at the
fastest rate possible."
The company founder isn't the
only one believing in accelerated
ﬁle transfers. In the past few years,
FileCatalyst
has
expanded
its
partner ecosystem to include global
distributors and resellers, and over
50 technology partners who have
integrated the technology into their
solutions. With the vast majority
of these partners also working in
the media and broadcast space,
FileCatalyst has ﬁrmly entrenched
itself as an industry leader.
15 years after being founded, and
nine years after its ﬁrst appearance
at NAB Show, FileCatalyst will again
return to Las Vegas for the 2015
edition of North America's leading
trade show for media and broadcast
professionals. Unlike its original
appearance in 2006, where it had a
modest 10×10 booth in an obscure
back corner of the hall, FileCatalyst
will host a 2000 square feet booth,
featuring a speaking theatre, a
demonstration of a live event
production workﬂow (similar to the
Super Bowl XLIX implementation), a
partner pavilion, and, of course, its
Emmy Award. "We are encouraging
attendees to come by the booth,"
says Chris Bailey, hinting at a surprise
during the show. He doesn't provide
much further detail other than to say,
"Keep an eye on our Twitter account".
The company can be found at
NAB Show - Booth SL8505 and @
FileCatalyst on Twitter.

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